By VK
The new composition of the Russian government has been revealed recently. Alexander Khloponin retained his post as a vice-PM and the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President to the North Caucasus Federal District. The head of the Regional Problems Institute Dmitry Zhuravlev shared his opinion on this topic with VK.
- The new government is a conservative one, and it is only natural as any government under a President who rules the country for more than 12 years is bound to be conservative; it is called to preserve the achievements of such a President. As for Khloponin’s position, this is a truly important question for the North Caucasus. Up until now all the Plenipotentiary Envoys were ‘in the rank of vice-PM’, and no one actually understood what powers did this rank give them. But in this new government Khloponin got all the real powers of the vice-PM, including finance distribution. So now he is fully responsible for the finances of his region. And it is very important as our financing system is very complex, some regions depend on donations, others don’t, and before a region gets the money they circle around this immense system… And now they have a direct financial connection, and we know that the North Caucasus lacks only one thing for sustained development: it has all the resources but sometimes it lacks the money to put these resources to work. And today it is much easier that it was, say, a week ago, and it is truly important for the Caucasus. But of course the possibilities should be actualized in order to become reality. So let’s do it!
- Do you think Khloponin is intent on doing that?
- I’m sure he is. I don’t know him personally, but I know him as a successful manager, and I know he can’t work in any other way. He won’t sit around a do nothing. He thinks in terms of big projects. It is his style, whether you like it or not. We should see the actual development plans he will offer, as then we’ll be able to criticize or support some of their aspects, but I am absolutely sure that he’ll offer such plans.
- Do you think he’ll show initiative?
- Of course. He full of initiative, it’d his lifestyle. And now he has respective powers. You know that in Russia those who have the initiative usually lack the powers, but let’s hope that this time it will change.
- And are there any counteracting forces within the new government that could hamper his initiatives?
- You know, I actually don’t believe in the constant struggle within the government, in the ‘influence groups’ and so on… This is a one-leader government, this is a management government. And if the leader made some decision, all those opposed would have to leave the government very soon. So I don’t believe in any counteraction from within the government or the Presidential Administration. But of course there will be some public counteraction, we all know that there are a lot of people who don’t want to change anything, and so on. Russia is ‘lucky’ to have a lot of such people. They’ll keep saying “Enough of feeding the Caucasus”, yes, but that won’t come from within the government. The administrative system simplified, it became stricter and more efficient.
